


Highway of the Undead

by Maone



Category: Alarm für Cobra 11, Rush Hour (1998), 天將雄師 | Dragon Blade (2015)
Genre: Drama, M/M, Romance, Supernatural Creatures, Vampire AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-16
Updated: 2020-05-16
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:42:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24216100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maone/pseuds/Maone
Summary: Carter and Lee are sent to Germany to look for spirits called Alps, coincidentaly the area where they've been spotted is being patrolled by familiar police officers...
Relationships: André Fux/Semir Gerkhan, James Carter/Yan Naing Lee, Lucius/Huo An
Kudos: 7





	Highway of the Undead

“Who is it we’re looking for again?” Asked Carter, pulling up the files Lucius sent you his smartphone. He held up the device around the car in hopes of securing a decent signal, the unfortunate presence of jet lag strong enough to afflict even a vampire’s memory. Being undead didn’t excuse him from his internal clock, it was a little tragic, but alas there was work to be done. 

“Highway patrolmen. Semir Gerkhan and Andre Fux, partners. Both vampires, but different breeds. Should be in your copy of the file.” Lee said, tapping his fingers against the wheel as the car clashed down the highway. A creature of habit, the man had chosen yet another Mitsubishi as their vehicle. Carter, more of a Corvette man than anything, disagreed with the choice but acknowledged that it was a fast enough make to get them out of trouble if needed. 

“The signal out here’s trash. Think I got something now, though.” The screen filled itself with various blocks of information and visual refs of the men throughout the years. The 90s took no prisoners, that was for damn sure. 

“Mchakay and Ventrue, these guys are pure bloods. It says here that the Mchakay’s something of a shapeshifter, animals and the like. The Ventrue’s more along the lines of Lucius, pure juggernaut. And they’ve been doing this whole patrol thing for a long time.”

Carter whistled, scrolling down the page. 

“Damn.”

“What is it?” Asked Lee, signaling into the next lane while on the lookout. 

“You’ve got to take a look at this.”

“Can’t, I’m driving. Just tell me what it is.”

“It says right here that they’re known for property damage. These numbers make what we do look like kid’s stuff.” 

“Get out of here.” The former Inspector wasn’t exactly proud of their track record, but it was hard to believe that the uncanny amount of trouble that followed the duo could be matched by any realistic means.

“Seriously! This thing is thorough. Whoever the big guy talked to has the full score on these two. Cars, explosions, conspiracy framing plots. Like I said, what we do, but on steroids.” 

“I doubt that.” Carter has a talent for exaggeration, annoyingly endearing in a way that left Lee wanting to rest his head on the steering wheel more often than not. But right now, with his eyes split between the road and the conversation, he’s willing to trust that there’s some truth in what the other man is saying. 

“Okay, go ahead and hate. But don’t come crying to me when we’re dangling from another building again.”

“That only happens when we’re on vacation.”

“Don’t remind me. I still think about Hong Kong to this day. Had to use trash can lids n’ everything. And you just happened to have clothes I could fit in your office. Say, why were those there anyway?”

Lee turned to look at him, as if to say ‘take a wild guess’. He opened his mouth to say something, only to be cut off by the sight of familiar faces out on his partner’s side. 

The two men jerked in their seats as the older of the pair floored the breaks, a cacophony of horns blaring around them the result of his momentary distraction. Through the rear-view mirror he can see the two patrolmen look their way, along with the other denizens of the road, many of which cursed Lee in a language he couldn’t understand. Luckily, there was one universal sign of displeasure, quite a few of them thrown his way as the cars passed them. Carter couldn’t help but laugh at his partner’s misfortune, wiping imaginary tears from the corners of his eyes. He did follow the man’s lead and look back, spotting the two men they were looking for. It took a moment to match their appearances with the photos, but it was them alright.

“Look Lee, we found someone shorter than you for a change.” The older vampire didn’t regret the loud ‘ow!’ that followed punching Carter in the arm, a firm believer in his age old motto of ‘you talk the stupid, you feel the stupid’, invented solely for one man. That man was currently rubbing his arm and muttering, a display that reminded him of the old days. Neither of them were human anymore, but they still had their quirks. He set the car in reverse, hoping that they’d be able to smooth over their little traffic faux pas. Not exactly the best first impression for meeting the highway patrol.

As they parked back by the two men, one of which was making his way toward them, Carter put a hand on his shoulder. 

“Let me do all the talking.” Lee’s expression signaled that he was very much against the idea. But with the insistent tapping on the window, he felt that he didn’t have nearly enough time to state all the reasons why letting his partner take over the verbal proceedings was a bad move. 

He rolled down the window, slow, unsure, and hesitantly. But down it went, giving the younger vampire the floor to lead into the conversation. 

“Uh, Lee, babe?”

“What is it now?”

“Any chance you speak German?”

“You’ve got to be kidding me!”

“What do you mean I’ve got to be kidding?! You already speak multiple languages!”

“None of them are German!”

“Oh yeah? Then how d'you read the signs to get here?”

“A map, Carter. A map!”

“See,  _ this _ is why you should’ve let me drive.”

“ _ Oh, my god-“  _ And off they went like a shot, voices overlapping one another at rapid-fire speeds as they argued the logistics of driving on German highways, the purpose of their reverse and subsequent stop all but forgotten as the lovers engaged in one of their famous spats. 

They didn’t see the officer’s increasingly puzzled expression shift into suspicion as something of their origin must have slipped and their argument has been rendered short as the officer reached for the door handle. In the brief moment that this gesture took place, Carter saw the unfriendly look directed towards them and in an effort to explain themselves before things got any worse, pushed the passenger door open. Which, to his surprise; and Lee’s horror, slammed straight into the patrolman and sent him falling backwards with a surprised yell.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” Lee’s horrified shout rang in his ear.

“I panicked!” Carter quickly scrambled out of the car, arms out to help the knocked down patrolman while he shifted his attention between him, Lee and the partner that hasn’t approached them yet, ”I’m so sorry, man, I really didn’t mean to do that, ah shit, how do you say sorry in German, Lee?!”

“I don’t speak German!” his lover reminded him.

“Well, I don’t either-” before Carter finished the sentence, all air has been knocked out of his lungs and suddenly he was slammed against the car so hard that the felt the metal frame dent behind him when an elbow shoved against his throat held him in place.

He was met with an icy stare of the other patrolman, much taller, much more muscular and definitely very unhappy. Carter heard the car door slam behind him, Lee already rushing to his aid.

“Look man, I wasn’t trying to hurt your buddy-” Carter wheezed, trying to pry the arm off his throat, but the vampire had a hold of steel.

“You’re a vampire,” the cop stated matter-of-factly in English.

“So are you!” Carter retaliated, putting all his strength into prying the offensive arm off his abused throat.”And your partner over there too, we were sent here to look for you,” he added when he was free at last. The cops eyes narrowed.

“Lucius sent us.” Lee added, looking at his lover worriedly, Carter just waved his hand that he was okay.

At that moment, the shorter patrolman finally got up to his feet to stand beside his partner. While they exchanged several quiet words in German, Lee fussed over Carter.

“Are you okay?” Lee asked, frowning at the spreading bruise across his lover’s throat.

“Fine, Lee.” Carter reassured him, pulling his partner’s hand away from the wound as he tried to examine the damage.

The German pair ended their conversation shortly after, neither looking any more trustworthy than they had moments ago.

This time the short vampire spoke out first.

“Why are you looking for us?” he asked cautiously, his accent just slightly thicker than his partner’s.

Carter and Lee exchanged a look, unsure how to explain the unusual situation, until eventually Lee took the initiative.

“We’re tracking down nightmare demons, you call them Alps.”

The taller cop shook his head, chuckling at the apparent ridiculousness of Lee’s words.

“And this Lucius guy sends you to look for  _ us _ ? We patrol the highway, that’s not exactly a place for an Alp.”

His partner seemed more surprised than amused, eyebrows raising up at the mention of Alps. Carter started to grow irritated. They didn’t come all this way, just to be laughed at.

“I ain’t here to argue logistics. Let me ask you something: Have you seen an uptick in accidents up here? Drivers falling asleep at the wheel, doesn’t matter the time of day?”

There seemed to be a momentary hesitation from the two officers.

“We had a pile-up in this area two days ago.”

Carter turned to the short vampire.

“Semir, right?” He queried.

A nod.

“This is Andre, my partner.” Semir nudged his taller companion.

“I think they know exactly who we are,” Andre pointed out,”don’t you?”

Carter ignored the judgmental look of the Ventrue, instead turning his attention to his partner, who appeared to be more willing to talk.”

“You ever dealt with those Alps things? Since they’re native to this place and all.”

“Well, no,” Semir said and Carter’s hopes died a little,”there’s no way how, they are spirits.”

Carter opened his mouth to ask another question when Andre interfered.

“Can we not discuss this in the middle of a busy highway? Matter of fact, I don’t want to discuss this at all, it’s got nothing to do with us. We’re leaving, Semir.” Andre brushed past his partner, walking back to their car.

“This guy’s got definitely more in common with Lucy than just being the same clan, what a stubborn ass.” Carter muttered under his breath.

Semir gave them an apologetic smile.

“He just doesn’t like spirits, they are dangerous, you see that forest?” he pointed on the sea of trees further down the road,”filled with things like that.”

Carter and Lee exchanged a terrified look.

“Filled…?”

Semir nodded.

“Yes, it’s been like that for couple of months, we usually just deal with what comes out, but hardly ever go in, it’s very risky for vampires, but ghouls are usually okay in there.”

That gave the pair a pause.

“Semir!” Andre called out, waiting at the car. Semir motioned that he was coming and turned to the two, one last time.

“Don’t go there by yourselves. Alps are not the worst thing in there.” With that he turned around and walked towards his awaiting partner, leaving the stunned duo behind. They both exchanged looks, as if trying to decipher what their next move would be. Consensus came in the form of Lee putting a hand on Carter’s shoulder and squeezing, before walking back in the direction of their car. His partner was more eager to follow than he’d admit, tearing his gaze from the woods. 

The shorter of the two climbed into the driver’s seat with a sigh. His partner soon followed, shutting the door next to him.

“How much you wanna bet that we’re gonna end up in there?” Asks Carter while fastening his seatbelt.

“I don’t have enough Euros to make a wager like that.” Lee turned the key in the ignition and pulled the car out, quietly lamenting the dent in the body and the inevitable repair costs to come. He didn’t fancy trouble, but it seemed that trouble had it out for the both of them. All in all, not too bad for a first meeting. 

“What do you make of those two?”

“What do you mean?”

“That Semir guy’s about as helpful as Lucius said he’d be. Can’t say the same about his partner though. You can tell who’s playing good cop and bad cop in that partnership.”

Lee shrugged.

“They seem close enough. They’ve been together for how long?”

“About as long as we have, a year more.” Every good partnership has a flow, a rhythm. Answered Carter, popping his neck to roll out the tension from earlier.

Just as every action has its equal, opposite reaction, a pair of men can have the same. Lee understands this, perhaps a bit differently than his companion, as they aren’t the same by any stretch. But the understanding is mutual where it counts. 

“Makes sense. Andre is really protective of his partner. Almost reminds me of you.” The younger man snorted at this, shaking his head.

“Come on now, I ain’t that standoff-ish.” 

“You threaten to beat the shit out of everyone who makes fun of my accent or my clothes.”

“And? I only go through with it half the time-“

“Because I ask you not to.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be keeping up with those two? Might as well follow them back to the station to get some more info.” Lee smiles and shook his head, pulling the car onto the road. 

-

Andre pulled up at the station, he hasn’t said much during the ride back there, but couple of glances in his direction told Semir enough. It was typical of his partner to dwell on things in silence rather than rant on, such was his way back in the day, but he’d grown out of it.

They’ve noticed the sudden activity in woods around A4 a while back, but neither felt the need to address it as for the most part, the beings hiding in there wouldn’t dare to go past the barriers.

At least up until now.

Once the reports of crashes suddenly skyrocketed, both of them had a gnawing suspicion that it wasn’t micro sleep as indicated.

Neither of them were particularly eager to deal with anything supernatural involved, so Semir still hoped it was just a very unfortunate coincidence. Andre was already dealing with a biker gang that’s been terrorizing the roads and having something unknown on top of that wasn’t something he was looking for, so for the most part, both of them just continued to ignore it.

The arrival of the two vampires put a nail in that coffin, unfortunately.

As they exited the car, Semir spoke up.

“We can’t ignore this, if those guys were right about Alps, it’s going to be an absolute chaos.”

Andre turned to look at him, frowning deeply.

“But we don’t know if that’s what it is.”

“I know, but I’m starting to think there could be something more to it, the highway has been manageable up until now, besides, what else that’s not  _ common _ , would cause accidents like that?” Semir pointed out.

“Right,” Andre clicked his tongue,”and you’re expecting to do what exactly about that?”

Semir paused.

“Last time I checked, you can’t kill a ghost. If it is whatever those two clowns are looking for then let them deal with it, we’ve got our own problems.” Andre shut the driver’s door and headed for the station, leaving Semir standing by the car.

He sighed.

“Well, acting like nothing’s wrong won’t make it go away either, genius” he muttered to himself and followed his partner.

Andrea lifted her head as soon as she heard Semir’s voice in the distance and saw the pair walk down the hallway, she quickly rummaged through documents on her table dropping some on the floor in the process and cursing softly under her breath as she knelt down to pick them up.

“What are you doing under there?” Andre queried with amusement in his voice and Andrea raised her head, grasping the runaway documents, the two detectives looking at her with a smile, she huffed a strand of loose hair out of her face and pulled herself up to her feet, pushing Semir’s offering hand out of the way.

“I’ve got the folders you asked for,” she said and held out the documents towards the pair, Andre took them, pointedly turning them around the right way.

Semir leaned closer to his partner to have a quick look himself.

Andrea adjusted her shirt and sat down in her chair.

“Semir, weren’t you supposed to be on the road with Tom today?” She asked, moving her eyes towards her computer. Both Andre and Semir looked at her and then at each other. 

A bit sheepish, Semir replied.

“I was, but I had to check something with Andre really quick,”

She raised an eyebrow.

“...It was important.” Semir added helpfully. Andre chuckled under his breath and flipped through the papers in his hands, making no attempt to aid his partner.

“Boss is starting to get annoyed, I’m just letting you know.” She shrugged.”You’re constantly leaving Tom on his own, it doesn’t look right.”

Semir scratched the back of his neck, looking at Andre helplessly with the ‘give me a hand here’ look. 

“You sound more annoyed than the boss does, Andrea. Besides, if it should be a problem, I’m sure Tom would say something and he hadn’t so far.” .Andre gathered the folder together and handed it over to Semir.

“He doesn’t have to, it’s all over his face, I feel sorry for him.” Andrea replied, pressing a pen against her lips in concentration of whatever she was doing on her computer.

Andre looked at her curiously and then leaned down towards her, making her look up at him.

“Careful,” he said quietly and the smoothness of his voice sent shiver down her spine,”you keep checking him out any more, we might start to think you’re having thoughts about our dear colleague.” He pulled away, leaving the poor secretary in uneasy daze and Semir threw him a judgmental look.

Andre simply shrugged and walked towards his office.

_ That wasn’t very nice. _

The words rang sharply in his mind and Andre winced, turning towards Semir still standing by Andrea’s desk.

He rolled his eyes and opened the door to his office.

“I’ll say sorry later” he said to the empty room, but heard the pleased humm in the back of his mind, when he turned around to look through the glass door, Semir was already back in his office with Tom.

\---

Carter and Lee walked up to the reception desk of the station, the officer sitting on the other side raised his head and looked at them expectantly. The two exchanged a look, before Lee said.

“We are looking for Andre Fux and Semir Gerkhan, are they here?”

“Seriously Lee? You think he speaks English?” Carter crossed his arms across his chest. Lee shrugged, meanwhile the officer pressed a button somewhere under the desk and said something in German, then he turned his gaze to the pair again.

“And you are?” he asked, to their surprise, in English.

“Detective Carter and detective Lee, they’ll know...probably,” Carter glanced at Lee who chuckled in response.

“Alright,” the officer acknowledged and forwarded the information to presumably the office he was calling. Then the officer stood up and motioned towards the hall leading further into the station.

“Go down that hall, the secretary will talk to you.”

Carter and Lee exchanged a look, but went in the direction they were told.

“They have a secretary? I didn’t have a secretary…” Carter muttered under his breath. 

The walk was short, they’ve noticed that the building was surprisingly small for being a police station near a major German city. Lucius had mentioned they only patrolled one highway, so maybe it wasn’t as much of a deal as they’ve thought. Soon, Carter and Lee entered a large room filled with desks occupied by working officers. Few raised their eyes in the two’s direction, but quickly went back to whatever they were doing. Looking around the place, they’ve noticed a young woman sitting near one of the few closed offices in the building, she stood up as soon as they approached her.

“You’re here to see Semir and Andre, yes?” She smiled.

\-----

Tom hovered over Semir as both men examined a map laid out on Semir’s table.

“It always happens at 24th kilometer, around here,” Tom circled his finger over a forested spot on the map,”at least six cases of people falling asleep behind their wheel, all were tested for drugs and alcohol in their system, all were negative, so the overall report is just lack of sleep.”

“That could work for a while.” Semir said hopefully and leaned closer to examine the map.”Whatever it is, it might go away before it blows way over our heads.”

“I don’t think it’s going to be that simple, I’ve seen this sort of pattern when I was in the Netherlands and I’m pretty sure the town’s plagued by whatever this is to this day.” Tom sighed. “Didn’t you say you went in there?” He tapped the spot on the map again.

Semir pulled a face.

“Yeah, and you told Andre.” he accused.

“I didn’t tell him, who do you take me for?” Tom sounded offended.”He just overheard me talking to you on the phone, that guy is a natural born creeper.”

“Being nosy runs in your family, clearly. Anyway, when I went down there I didn’t hang around for long, those woods are crawling with all sorts of weird crap and I do actually enjoy being alive.” Semir finished.

Soon after there was a knock on the door and both of them turned towards it. Andrea’s head popped in.

“Semir, you’ve got some visitors, some detectives from America. They wanted to see Andre too, but he left a while ago.”

Tom gave his partner a curious look.

“Americans?” He inquired.

Semir stood up to see properly who was standing behind the secretary. Sure enough…

He walked over to the door, pushing past Tom who was looking at him expecting an answer, instead, Semir invited the two detectives in. Tom observed the two curiously. The black man walked in as if he owned the place, while his asian companion just smiled with greetings on his lips. Both wore suits that definitely seemed way beyond Tom’s paycheck, but it wasn’t what struck him upon their entrance.

Being a vampire had many perks as well as many cons, depending on what species you were, but one thing they all had in common was the ability to sense whether they were in contact with one.

That was something constantly drilled in his and his brother’s head when they were young and only just getting acquainted with their abilities; know what you’re dealing with before you make a move.

Those two were definitely vampires.

“Semir…” Tom started with a warning, slowly straightening and staring down the two newcomers.

His partner didn’t seem to be affected by the revelation whatsoever and Tom knew Semir would know they were vampires as well.

Not wanting to make rushed judgements, Tom waited, his natural instinct was running wild, telling him to attack the unknown threat, to protect his partner, but his rational side was stronger, something he has always been better at than his brother and he was proud of it, self control played a big part in their lives.

“I know, it’s okay, Tom. This is detective Carter and his partner Lee; at least that’s what Andrea told me, we didn’t really have the time to meet and greet properly before.”

Semir didn’t appear to feel any sort of threat from the two strangers and one gentle squeeze of Tom’s forearm as he moved to stand next to him, reassured the vampire that there was no confrontation to be.

Still, his discomfort was noticed.

“Look buddy, we didn’t come here lookin’ for trouble...well, actually we kinda did, but anyway, we can help each other.” Carter said.

Tom stared at him skeptically.

“Help each other with what?” he asked quizzically and glanced at his partner.

“They believe that the thing causing drivers on A4 to pass out are Alps, you know those little nightmare spirits.” Semir replied in German.

“Okay...when were you going to mention that to me?” Tom nodded with a click of his tongue.

“It really wasn’t that important.” Semir shrugged.

“Sorry to interrupt, but we came here to offer our help, so y’know, could you give us a minute?” Carter raised his voice, making the two stop their quiet exchange and look at him instead.”Where’s the big guy by the way, thought he was your partner, but I don’t see his nametag on the door.” 

Semir opened his mouth to respond, when Tom snorted with laughter.

“Is that how Andre introduced himself to you?”

Carter and Lee exchanged a puzzled look.

“No, that’s how he introduced him.” Carter pointed at Semir. Tom gave his partner an amused look, while the shorter man looked away awkwardly.

“Shouldn’t we talk about this in private?” Lee said worriedly.

Semir shook his head and poked Tom in the ribs, putting a swift end to his chuckling.

“Ah...It’s fine, Tom is Andre’s brother, so you could say he’s on the same boat.”

Tom patted his partner on the shoulder and walked over to his desk.

“So, what makes you think that Alps are responsible for people passing out on the highway? That would require possession and we can detect if a body was possessed and none of the inflicted were.”

“But possession is detectable only for a short time, how long does it take to drive out to that place?” Lee retorted.

“Add that to the time it takes for you to be notified, any evidence of it would be wiped out, have you considered that?” Carter added.

Tom pondered over that for a moment, so Semir took to talking this time.

“Did Lucius tell you HOW to deal with Alps? I told you they are spirits, you can’t kill a spirit. We’ve never dealt with them before, so I don’t know what made Lucius think we could be of any help. We don’t know what to do about it ourselves and we’ve been patrolling that part of the road for a few years now.”

“It’s possible to banish them, Semir. I’m not really worried with how to get rid of them, if it is really Alps we’ve got there, I’m more worried what’s in there with them.” Tom muttered in their native tongue.

“Stick to English, will ya? We came here for information, not to stand by while you figure shit out.” Carter snapped, his patience running short.”We only came here to check the place out and confirm for our boss that what he’s looking for is in there.”

Tom crossed his arms across his chest.

“I don’t get one thing, why are you - or your boss, even looking for this spirit? As annoying as Alps can be, I’ve never heard of anyone actually trying to fight them, you’d be poking something much bigger. What’s worth such a risk?”

Carter and Lee exchanged a look, Lee chewed on his lower lip.

“Look, why don’t you show us the place and then we can figure out how to proceed from here on. So far everything points out to the big bad wolf being in there with those things and if it’s in there, you’ll end up having a much bigger problem than just couple of passed out drivers and I’m talking really big.” Carter said seriously.

“There is another vampire looking for this demon, a Ventrue Elder, much like Lucius. The demon must have moved near your highway during this hunt, at least that’s what we suspect.” Lee added.

Semir glanced out of the office’s window and then checked his watch.

“Andre’s going to be out for at least another hour,” he said and looked at Tom, who gave him a knowing smirk,”we could make a quick stop.”

Carter and Lee grinned triumphantly at each other.

\----

They headed for the 24th kilometer in Semir’s silver BMW under the guise that they were taking their guests for a brief ride on the highway to show them how they work, Engelhardt didn’t have the opportunity to question them, they made a brief explanation with a quick exit, knowing the less time their boss had to process something, the easier it was to get away with it.

The drive was mostly quiet, but a thought occurred to Lee and soon he broke the silence.

“Are you the only vampires at your station?” he asked curiously.

Tom and Semir exchanged a look, before Semir turned his eyes back on the road, Tom nodded from the passenger seat.

“Yes, it was originally just Andre and Semir, I joined a bit later. They used to be partners at one point, your boss just had a bit outdated information. Andre still acts like Semir is his partner though, old habits die hard.” He explained.

“What happened?” Lee asked.

Semir cleared his throat and Tom sighed.

“Long story, it’s not important.” Tom said simply, acknowledging his partner’s discomfort.

Carter frowned, but remained silent.

The highway stretched far across various fields, Carter watched the repetitive scenery pass by wondering just how dangerous was the spirit that his bosses wanted to face. Before they headed to Germany, they haven’t been briefed on anything besides the vampires they were supposed to meet because neither Lucius or Huo An knew much about this creature themselves.

Nightmare spirits were something of a common occurence like any other regular ghost, just mischievous little shits that got into people’s heads occasionally and messed around until they were satisfied with the wreckage. Carter hasn’t been a vampire long enough in his opinion to have wide enough knowledge about various creatures, but he’s been familiar with them well enough to know they weren’t anything special.

The fact where they hang around a massive demonic creature that literally has the word ‘possession’ in its name was definitely new.

Soon, Carter’s majorly flat view filled with sea of trees once their German companions drove them to the destination.

The forest didn’t seem anything special to a naked human eye, but the second they passed the first tree, Carter shivered involuntarily. Earlier that day, he didn’t feel anything, but with the afternoon hours approaching, the forest was coming to life with activity.

Carter turned his eyes to the others in the car, until he met Lee’s equally concerned look.

At long last, the BMW came to a stop at one of the forested roads beside the highway and all four vampires exited the car.

Semir and Tom stood at the edge before the thickly wooded area, looking into the depth laid out before them. Carter and Lee moved to stand beside them, their heightened senses ringing alarm bells in their minds. Whether the two Germans felt the same thing or not, they didn’t show it, both stood firmly, their posture unwavered by the threat surrounding them.

“I don’t know man, there’s so much activity goin’ on in there,jeez...this place keepin’ you busy ain’t it?” Carter whistled and shoved his hands in his pockets to hide the tremors forcing their way beneath his skin.

“Not really.” Semir retorted.”Things usually stay in there, it’s rare when anything big comes out.”

“Except the Alps?” Lee pointed out.

Semir shrugged.

“Right, so.” Carter clasped his hands together.”We clearly can’t go in, so any idea what brings these things out? When do the accidents happen?”

When he looked at the two German officers expectantly, they stared at him as if he’s lost it.

“Don’t look at us, we only get here when the accidents happen, but we’ve never actually seen it before it starts happening.” Tom said.

“I wasn’t askin’ you that.” Carter retorted.

Semir and Tom exchanged a confused look.

“We didn’t consider Alp being the culprit until you showed up, so I don’t know what to tell you, I was only starting to investigate the cause with Andre this morning.” Semir added helplessly.

“So we have to go in.” Lee said finally.

Carter made a pained noise.

“Not something I would recommend, but you are probably going to make them come out a lot quicker if you do.” Tom pointed out. “It’s feeling already pretty crowded in there, so you might get lucky.”

When Lee began to slowly walk towards the woods, Carter stared after him with wide eyes, before turning quickly to their two German companions.

“You comin’ with us, right?” He demanded.

Both vehemently shook their heads.

“What do you mean ‘no’?! This your turf, ain’t it?!” Carter complained.

That’s when Tom pulled up his sleeve to look at his watch. Carter watched him expectantly. Tom looked up with a raised eyebrow and Semir leaned over to sneak a peak at the watch.

“Yeah, no, it’s past four.” Tom said finally.

Carter blinked.

“Wha...the fuck are you on about?” He cried.

“We just don’t go in there past four, it’s too dangerous.” Tom reasoned and Semir nodded along.

“Now wait a minute!” Carter raised an accusatory finger at the duo.

“Carter!” Lee shouted.

Carter’s mouth snapped shut and he looked over his shoulder. Lee was motioning to him.

With his finger still pointed at the two German vampires, Carter walked backwards to follow his partner.

“Can’t believe you’d leave your bros hangin’, yo mamma wouldn’t be proud of that!” He shouted the further away he got.

As soon as both men disappeared out of the view, Semir and Tom started laughing.

“ _We don’t go in past four_?” Semir grinned at his partner.

Tom shrugged nonchalantly.

“Hey, they wanted to find those Alps, not us. I doubt they'll find anything of the sort regardless. Whatever is causing people to pass out behind the wheel, does it at random. It's unlikely that it'd just sit there and wait for some guys come looking for it."

Semir checked his watch.

"I just hope they hurry it up, someone's going to tell Andre that they were looking for him and with the two us gone, it won't take him long to put the two and two together."

Tom rolled his eyes.

"So what? If anything, he would be glad we got rid of them."

"You make that sound like we just sent them in there to get killed, Tom." Semir gave him a judgemental look.

"No, I didn't! I meant that they won't have a reason to stick around if they won't find what they're looking for and even if they do find what they are looking for, what would they need us for?" Tom defended.

"Hm, fair point."

Their eyes turned to the depths of the forest before them and they waited.


End file.
